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Australian admits war crimes in Burma

Mike Hedge, Senior Correspondent

An Australian citizen has admitted to executing 24 anti-government protesters and student leaders as an officer in Burmese military intelligence.

Htoo Htoo Han, who came to Australia as a refugee in 1996 and has since been involved in campaigns aimed at highlighting human rights abuses in Burma, says he also had indirect involvement in at least 100 other murders.

Han says he led a group which infiltrated student organisations, identifying and targeting leading activists.

"We destroy them ... destroy means kill," Han said.

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He said he performed the executions during the 1988 anti-government uprising that swept Burma, leaving thousands dead.

The father of three young children says he has come forward because he can no longer live with his guilt.

"I did it, I am a war criminal," Han said.

"For so long I have lived like an animal.

"Now I want to release what I carry inside for 20 years. I want to say sorry to the mothers and fathers of the people I killed."

He said he killed his victims with a bullet to the back of the head: "Just bang, very quick. I don't do torture."

He said he was aware of others who were buried alive and their bodies incinerated.

Han's confession has prompted calls from human rights groups for the Australian government to press for a United Nations inquiry into abuses in Burma.

"What makes the situation more urgent is that it's still happening," said Debbie Stothard, spokesperson for the Alternative ASEAN Network.

"There is no shortage of evidence even from people who committed those crimes themselves."

Burmese activist groups based in Thailand said Han, who now lives in Brisbane, was known to them, one senior figure expressing doubt over the motives behind Han's admissions.

The secretary of the support group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Tate Naing, said Han, had returned to Thailand a number of times since being granted asylum in Australia.

"He was a very bad man," Naing said.

"I know his history, so I don't want to recommend him."

Han, 44, claims to have posed as a political prisoner while undercover in Burma.

But Naing suggests Han's failure on his recent visits to Thailand to visit the AAPP base in the border town of Mae Sot is reason to doubt his allegiances to the group.